


There's no Accounting for Love

by DawnOfTomorrow



Series: Money can't buy Happiness [1]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: AU, Chris is NOT helping, Frustration, Lack of Communication, M/M, Mistaken identities, Misunderstandings, Pining, Unreliable Narrator, Victor is a CIO, Victor is rich, Yuuri Katsuki is shy, Yuuri is an accountant, victor is thirsty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:33:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 18,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28182465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DawnOfTomorrow/pseuds/DawnOfTomorrow
Summary: When a handsome Asian man approaches Victor and apologises for being ‘late’, he thinks it’s a bad pickup line.When he goes to his hotel with him and gets his world rocked, he thinks he’s just lucky.When he wakes up the next morning with an envelope with cash sitting on the nightstand, he’s really, really confused.Part 1 of the series - Victor's POV.
Relationships: Katsuki Yuuri & Victor Nikiforov, Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov
Series: Money can't buy Happiness [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2064534
Comments: 44
Kudos: 186





	1. Chapter 1

He sighed in annoyance before getting up off the barstool. He’d been there for 45 minutes already – clearly the stupid blind date he’d been set up on wasn’t showing up.

He glanced around the bar again – the only other single guy around his age was some fake-blonde American sweetheart type that had too many muscles and even more empty drink glasses before him.

No, definitely not.

Straightening his suit, he paid for the last drink and stepped outside, into the cold Detroit air. He let the cold sting at his skin for a few moments before shrugging into his coat and pulling out his phone.

Before he could call for his driver though, a hand landed on his arm.

“Hi!” the owner of the hand greeted him.

Victor blinked in confusion, expecting to recognise him or something – he didn’t. He DID however find the man _incredibly_ attractive. He was wearing a suit too, his hair slicked back, just a few loose strands hanging into his face. His brown eyes were framed by blue and white-rimmed glasses... and he seemed a bit out of breath.

Adorable.

“Hi...?” he replied, trying to work out if it WAS someone he knew – but no, there was no way he’d have forgotten someone like that.

“Sorry I’m late!” the man said.

Victor paused – he was so distracted by how a slight accent made him sound more exotic than expected, that he nearly missed what the man had said – late?

“You... are really beautiful. I’m Yuuri by the way.”

His heart skipped a beat – had he ever been called beautiful before? Certainly not in such an earnest tone...

It clicked for Victor, and he had to fight a grin. The man was trying to flirt with him! Clearly, his evening wasn’t ruined just yet.

Even if it was incredibly clumsy, Victor was more than willing to cut him some slack – it’d been a while since he’d been so attracted to someone.

“Thank you... I’m Victor.” He replied.

To his surprise, Yuuri blushed a little, but a small smile stole onto his face.

“W-Well, if it’s not too late yet, I have a reservation in a restaurant around the corner? Would you... would you like to have dinner with me?”

Victor glanced between his phone and Yuuri. Sure, he could call his driver, ride home and have some takeout on the couch... But Yuuri had called him beautiful.

His heart skipped another beat.

“Lead the way!” he chirped, pleased when Yuuri flushed again.

* * *

“Is the food here to your liking?” Yuuri asked, peeking over the edge of the menu in the most adorable way.

Victor hummed. Yuuri had taken him to an Asian fusion place.

“It’s not something I’ve had before... A lot of it is vegetarian?”

“Yeah, almost all. A colleague recommended it to me.”

“Hm, I don’t often go out... Do you have any recommendations?”

Yuuri’s smile brightened and Victor’s heart skipped another beat. He nodded along to his explanation of the dishes, but really, he was mostly paying attention to the way a few more strands of gelled back hair had escaped and were framing Yuuri’s features.

“Sounds great.” He said when Yuuri focused on something in particular, some vegetable stir fry thing, but he was too lost in thought to really listen.

When was the last time he’d been on a date? Well, a date that he _enjoyed_ anyway? It had to have been years, he reasoned, sipping the white wine Yuuri had ordered them.

Well... He was going to really enjoy this one.

* * *

They were standing in front of the restaurant, and Yuuri was adorably giggling at something Victor had told him about Makka.

The man had lit up like a Christmas tree when Victor had told him he had a dog – he was starting to question if Yuuri was even real, being so ridiculously perfect.

He didn’t want to say goodnight, but it was late, and he had work...

Yuuri surprised him by reaching out and taking his hand, his face far more red than the cold night air justified.

“Victor... I-I don’t really know the protocol for this, but... I have a room? At a hotel, a few minutes away. Unless you’d rather leave?”

For a moment, he was dumbstruck at Yuuri’s _assumption_ that Victor would put out, but he could tell the other man was nervous... He didn’t seem to have meant it in any sort of rude way.

And God, did he want to go with him.

“Where’s your hotel?” he asked... and Yuuri sighed in obvious relief.

* * *

A short cab ride, walk and then elevator ride later, they were at the door of Yuuri’s room. It was in a nice hotel, if not exactly luxury. He was curious about the room – at the very least until Yuuri unlocked the door, all but pushed him through it and took his mouth in a hot kiss.

Victor moaned in surprise – he vaguely heard the door fall shut behind them, but he was too busy trying to work out which way was up.

Yuuri was a fantastic kisser, and there wasn’t a single trace of shyness left in him. If he hadn’t known better, he would have said Yuuri seemed like a different person entirely.

He didn’t resist at all when Yuuri grabbed him by the lapel of his coat and pulled him until he stumbled into the bed and fell backwards, landing on his back.

Yuuri had just yanked his tie off in a motion that, frankly, should not have turned him on as much as it did. Victor knew he was gaping when Yuuri matter of factly stripped off his suit jacket and shoes, but... But...

When the Japanese man reached for the buttons on his shirt, Victor scrambled to move, practically ripping his clothes off.

He winced a little when a button popped off his expensive shirt, but the thought was fleeting at best... Because then, he saw that Yuuri was already naked except for his dark blue briefs and _holy shit_ did that suit not do him justice.

Victor wanted to tell him, he really did, but before he could he found himself pressed into the bed, Yuuri’s body along his, his thigh rubbing intimately against Victor’s erection.

He moaned wantonly and shifted his hips, even just that bit of friction burned like electricity through him.

Yuuri chuckled quietly and rolled them over – he blinked and then he was sitting on top of Yuuri instead. The man was flushed, and as they stared at each other, his hands started to travel up Victor’s body, thumbs running over his nipples until he shuddered.

Yuuri leaned up and pulled him into another kiss, his free hand landing on the spot where Victor’s thigh met his ass... And oh, wasn’t that an idea?

Unsure how, Victor found himself on his back again, Yuuri kissing licking and biting his way along his body to his black slip. He didn’t hesitate at all in pulling it away enough to let his erection spring free, before pressing a surprisingly gentle kiss against it.

Victor had half expected Yuuri to devour it, and him along with it.

He would not have objected.

A tongue licked at his head for a moment, before lips replaced it in another kiss that ended with Yuuri sucking him into his mouth properly for the first time.

He cried out at the sensation, his fingers burying into Yuuri’s hair. The other man bobbed his head a few times, but as soon as Victor felt himself getting closer, he gently nudged him off – he wanted something else.

If Yuuri was up for that.

“Y-Yuuri?” he gasped, embarrassingly out of breath.

The other man nodded. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No, God no... I just wanted to suggest... You could fuck me. If you’re into that.” He offered, trying and failing to sound casual.

“Oh? Yeah? You’d be into that?” Yuuri sounded surprised.

Victor gulped. “You can do literally anything to me. Do you have stuff? Condom?”

Yuuri groaned in frustration. “I don’t...”

For a moment, Victor was curious if Yuuri would request to do it without – and curious hoe he himself would react, but the man surprised him.

“That’s fine. We don’t have to. Sorry, I didn’t plan ahead apparently.”

“There’s one in my wallet.” Victor blurted and scrambled off the bed to get it. Yuuri looked positively delighted when he accepted it.

“No lube though?”

He shook his head. To his surprise, his partner’s face turned all but impish.

“You... said I can do anything I want to you?”

Victor nodded, unsure why Yuuri was asking.

“Then get on all fours.” He all but ordered, punctuating his order with a light slap to the outside of Victor’s thigh.

He scrambled to comply, still trying to work out what Yuuri was up to when the man grabbed his ass, kneading it for a few seconds before spreading his cheeks... And then hot breath grazed over his hole.

At the first touch of tongue, Victor _howled_. He wouldn’t have asked for that, even though he absolutely loved it – and Yuuri as it turned out was an absolute master.

He ate him out precisely like he’d kissed Victor earlier – like he wanted to devour him. When he finally stopped, Victor’s legs were shaking visibly, and if he’d been capable of it, he would have come from Yuuri’s tongue alone.

As it was, he nearly sobbed in relief when he heard the sound of a wrapper tearing, and felt the hot slide of Yuuri’s dick against his thigh a moment later.

The Japanese man wasted no time lining himself up and sliding into him in one smooth motion.

There was no resistance at all – Victor was relaxed and more than wet from Yuuri’s earlier ministrations.

Naturally, his cock reached places his tongue just couldn’t – and he’d been desperate for Yuuri to get to his prostate already ever since he’d first felt Yuuri’s hand on his ass.

He didn’t disappoint, simply fucked into Victor at a leisurely pace, hitting him exactly right with nearly every thrust.

In no time at all, Victor was clenching his teeth, trying to stop himself from moaning at every thrust.

He gave up that effort when Yuuri’s hand ghosted down the centre of his back and, after pulling out of him a little, swatted his ass. The sting had him whimpering, the pain mixing with the pleasure, and then Yuuri pushed back in, harder, faster.

The younger man did it again, and again, going harder and faster every time he spanked Victor.

It was glorious.

He was extremely disappointed, actually, when heat coiled in his belly and he could tell he was about to come.

He did so with a quiet sob, his dick spilling his seed onto the sheets below without so much as a touch. He came for what felt like forever, pleasure burning through him until he thought he would lose consciousness.

He was quite disappointed it was over... At least until he realised that Yuuri hadn’t come. In fact, as soon as he somewhat pulled himself together, his lover started thrusting again.

Victor whimpered, the oversensitivity only barely drowned out by the raw pleasure of it.

Still, he relished the way Yuuri readily kept thrusting, faster and faster until his hips stuttered a bit, and he came too – with a quiet groan of Victor’s name that shot _straight_ to his limp but rather interested cock.

Yuuri pulled out and released his hips... And Victor collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut, asleep before he was even aware of what was happening.

* * *

Victor woke up warm, comfortable, and best of all – with someone pressing light kisses to his shoulders. His mind was sluggish, only slowly filling in the where, the who, and what of the night before.

He stretched out, testing for all the aches he knew he had – and indeed, he was _sore_ in the best possible way.

Yuuri was laying behind him, still pressing kisses to his shoulders – he only stopped when Victor rolled over, coming face to face with his partner.

He’d clearly had a shower and washed his hair – the formerly gelled back do was now loosely falling around his head, giving him a much softer and younger impression than he had had the night before.

They’d discussed it – Yuuri was only three and a half years younger than Victor.

He grinned sleepily. “Good morning.” Without hesitation he leaned in, kissing Yuuri deeply. He didn’t care about morning breath.

Yuuri hummed and kissed him back, gently, until Victor pulled back again.

“I really need to get going.” The other man said, and Victor’s heart sank a little.

Well, of course – he had to have things to do.

“R-Right.”

“Thank you for last night. I enjoyed myself a lot.” Yuuri said as he got up – to Victor’s surprise, he was fully dressed already. It seemed he’d gotten up and only laid back down to wake him.

His heart clenched a little with fondness.

“I brought you some coffee from the Starbucks down the road, it’s on your bedside table.” Yuuri explained, unaware of Victor’s mental swooning.

“I had a really great time too.” Victor said when his brain caught up again.

Yuuri almost seemed surprised, but smiled. “T-That’s good. I was hoping... You’d be willing to see me again? If I... If you have the time?”

Victor nodded before Yuuri had even finished speaking and looked around.

“Ah, no idea where my phone is, so if you give me yours, I’ll just give you my number so you can call me whenever.”

Yuuri gaped for a moment before he pulled out an iPhone – a generation out of date, Victor noted.

“R-Really? Your personal number? I thought that wasn’t... I mean...”

Victor grinned and winked at him. “Well, my business number won’t help you much since I don’t pick that up directly.” His secretary did, bless her heart – huge gossip, definitely not someone he wanted to arrange dates through.

Yuuri blushed again. “Oh. Y-Yeah makes sense. I’ll, uh, be calling you?”

Victor, having saved himself as a contact, gave the phone back. He sat up with a slight wince and stretched.

“Please do. It’s been a while since I’ve enjoyed myself as much as last night.” He truthfully admitted.

Yuuri pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead.

“Thanks for saying that. It’s very nice of you.” He pulled back again and went to pick up his jacket. “Feel free to stay however long you want. The room is paid for until tonight, and it’s all tied to my credit card – if you want to, feel free to get a massage or a spa treatment or something.”

Victor gaped at him. “That’s... really nice? But not necessary. I mean, I...”

Yuuri waved him off. “I know I was a bit rough with you last night. You didn’t seem like you minded, but they have really great reviews for their massages here, so I figured if you were tense, it might help. Anyway, I need to go.”

The man walked towards the door, opened it, and paused again. “I... The envelope is on the bedside table. Thanks again. I really had a good time.”

With those confusing words, Yuuri pulled the door shut behind himself and left. Victor immediately went looking for the envelope – it sat under a cinnamon and vanilla flavoured latte that Yuuri had brought him.

Practically melting inside, he grabbed the envelope – it simply had his name written on it in cursive.

He nearly dropped his coffee when he saw what was inside – cash. A fair bit of it.

Fingers shaking, he pulled it out and counted, then counted again.

Five thousand American dollars.

Along with them, there was a note. He reached for it with limp fingers, desperately hoping that it was some sort of prank, or at the very least an explanation.

The note was also written in quite beautiful penmanship, but Victor was more interested in its contents.

‘Dear Victor, I was really hesitant about using an escort service. I wasn’t sure what to think, but being with you was one of the best evenings I’ve had in a long time. Enclosed are 5k – 500 for every hour that we spent together. Please have your agency get in touch if it isn’t enough, and I’ll pay the difference.

Thank you for the fantastic time, Yuuri’

He read it a good seven or eight times just to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating.

What. The. Fuck.


	2. Chapter 2

Chris was howling with laughter, looking like he might collapse if he wasn’t also leaning on Victor’s desk for support.

Victor was staring at him quite sourly – he’d called up his HR friend to his office to talk about what had happened the weekend before, _not_ in order to be laughed at.

“Are you done?” he frostily asked when Chris laughter died down to mere giggles.

“I don’t know, are you? Did you call me here to give me your resignation? Because I know what they pay you and it’s not exactly 500 per hour!” Chris wheezed.

Victor groaned and hid his face in his hands. It had been a mistake telling his best friend, clearly.

“So... So he thought you were a hooker?” Chris asked after a few beats of silence.

“To be fair, he thought I was a high-class hooker.”

“Uh, right, whatever that means.” Chris said dismissively. “And he left before you could clear it up?”

“Mhm.”

“But he has your number. So, when he calls, you can sort it out.”

Victor sighed deeply – if, not when. He’d pretty much expected a call pretty soon, but four days had passed with no word from Yuuri – the envelope with the cash was sitting in his office desk now.

“I guess.” He agreed weakly. “Is this really so funny?”

Chris snickered. “Is what funny? You, the man with the highest standards I’ve ever met, going to dinner with some random guy, then getting what was according to you the ‘best sex any person has ever had, ever’, and then being left with an envelope full of cash? I’m sorry Victor, but that’s easily the funniest thing I’ve heard in my _life._ ”

Victor moaned quietly. Put that way...

“I thought we had a real connection. I really thought...” he trailed off, unwilling to say something he had trouble admitting even in his own mind.

Chris sobered some and sighed. “Yeah, fair enough. I guess if he really wants to see you again, you can find out if it was the same for him. I mean, you made it sound like you REALLY clicked. I’m sure he feels the same.”

Chris’ attempts to cheer him up fell on rather deaf ears, unfortunately.

“What I don’t understand...” the HR head continued, “is that there weren’t any clues. I mean obviously, he didn’t just go ‘hey are you the hooker I ordered’, but nothing?”

Victor huffed. “There were some clues, looking back at it. He said he was sorry he was late. I thought it was some shitty pickup line. It... He was shy, okay? It fit with everything else. And I mean he said he didn’t know the protocol for how to do this, but I assumed he meant one-night-stands, or spontaneous dates at least. Not... That.”

Chris patted him on the shoulder. “Well, I’m sorry. Genuinely. But, if it was as good as you say, I’m sure he WILL call.”

“He said I was beautiful, Chris.”

The other man huffed. “Oh please, you know you’re beautiful.”

Victor waved him off. “I do. People rarely say it though, and when they do, it’s like just now. An obvious thing that doesn’t need acknowledging.”

Chris paused for a few seconds and spoke again in an all-too understanding tone. “Huh. I never knew you thought like that.”

Uncomfortable, Victor shrugged it off.

“Yes, well, all I can do now is wait.”

“I mean you COULD do some work.” Chris suggested.

He shot him a flat look.

“Wouldn’t want someone to report you to HR, right?” Chris said with a grin.

Victor all but shooed him out of the office. He was the bloody CIO, he didn’t need to take sass like that. Even if Chris had a tiny point and he’d sort of let his work pile up.

He was normally an absolute workhorse, he was allowed to have a slow day.

* * *

Or a slow week, as it happened – by the time Friday rolled around again, he’d done only a fraction of what he was supposed to be doing.

It was, of course, _then_ that his phone rang – an unknown number.

He was so eager to pick it up, he nearly dropped it.

“Hello, Victor speaking!”

For a moment, there was silence, then a soft sigh. “Hi. It’s Yuuri, from... from last week? I, you spent the night with me?”

He was twirling through his office, trying to keep his excitement out of his voice.

“Yes! Yuuri, you finally called! I wasn’t sure you would.”

Yuuri chuckled. “I wasn’t either. It was... It was a pretty new experience for me, to be honest. But I decided I’d like to repeat it? If you’re interested and free, that is.”

“Yes I am!” he breathed, his heart racing already.

“G-Great! Then... Would you like to go out tonight? Or tomorrow?”

“Tonight works.” He said – the sooner the better.

“Okay. That’s great. I’m looking forward to it. Meet me at 17th and Drive? I’ll wait at the corner.”

He’d written down the address as soon as he physically could.

“Yes! What time?”

“Seven?”

He checked the clock – enough time to go home, shower, change and make it back.

“Perfect!” he beamed.

“Y-Yeah. I’ll see you later.”

Victor hung up with a huge grin on his face, racing straight to the elevator, to take it two floors lower, to the HR department. Chris was in his office when he barged right in without knocking.

“He called!”

“Victor, so good to see you, no I don’t have a meeting, come in.” Chris said sarcastically, before dropping the act and grinning. “So, you were able to straighten out the misunderstanding? You told him who you are?”

Victor froze.

That... He’d forgotten. He’d been so excited Yuuri had called, he’d just... forgotten.

Chris gave him a long look. “Well, I guess you can bring it up on your next date.”

Victor groaned. “I forgot. I’ll tell him tonight.”

“Uhuh.”

He chose to ignore Chris’ obviously sarcastic agreement and opted to just leave – he had a date to get ready for!

* * *

By the time Victor got to the agreed-on place, he was ten minutes early – and Yuuri was already standing there, looking exactly as lovely as he had the first time, his hair slicked back and hands in his coat pockets to keep them warm.

Victor thanked his driver and got out, choosing to walk the last stretch. Yuuri spotted him from a few feet away and smiled immediately.

“Victor! Thanks for meeting me here! I... You look amazing.” Yuuri said, gently taking his hand as soon as they reached each other.

Victor smiled, almost too-pleased at his words. Before he could think of a compliment to give back, Yuuri surprised him by lifting his hand and pressing a kiss to his knuckles.

It was Victor’s turn to blush – how did Yuuri make what should have been a cheesy gesture seem so sincere and swoon-worthy?

“What, uh, are we doing tonight?” he asked, his voice a bit unsteady. If Yuuri had answered that they were headed straight to a hotel, frankly he’d have been down for that too.

Instead, the man grinned and tightened his grip on Victor’s hand.

“Come with me and you’ll see! It’s a surprise!”

Yuuri led him to an unassuming entrance that almost looked like it would lead just to some flats – frankly, he’d have been ecstatic if Yuuri had taken him to his place – but turned out to be a conversion – into a dance studio, actually.

He whistled as he took in the high ceiling in the brightly-lit dance ballet studio.

“You dance?” he asked Yuuri. The man had shrugged out of his coat and taken Victor’s too.

“Ever since I was a kid. First ballet, then classic ballroom, and eventually Latin. How do you... Do you like dancing?”

The younger man was obviously fidgeting nervously – meanwhile, Victor was trying to speak around whatever seemed to be choking him up at the moment.

“I... _love_ dancing.” He admitted truthfully. “I’ve only done classical ballroom, but I can hold my own. Do we have this place to ourselves?”

Yuuri nodded and walked over to a sound system. “For the next three hours. The owner let me rent it as a favour.”

Victor abruptly remembered that he needed to talk to Yuuri, that he needed to tell him that he wasn’t an escort... But then soft classical music sounded through the room and Yuuri held out his hand with a smile.

Victor couldn’t have stopped himself from accepting the invitation to dance if his life depended on it.

Yuuri was a phenomenal dancer, leading him perfectly. The music eventually changed to Latin, and though he’d never danced any before, Yuuri led him through a tango as well as he had done for a waltz.

The younger man _dipped_ him, and Victor could feel the care and attention Yuuri was giving him in every motion.

It was almost more intimate than the sex had been – he was certainly as sorry as he had been the week before when it was over.

He was still a little out of breath when they were back out on the street, Yuuri fidgeting nervously again.

“Where’s your hotel this time?” Victor asked, more than keen to get to the next part of their date.

Yuurk smiled weakly and led the way – and once again, Victor remembered that he had to tell Yuuri he wasn’t a damn escort.

He’d do it in the room, he decided – it wasn’t a conversation to have on a random street in Detroit.

Of course, he realised his mistake as soon as the door closed behind them and Yuuri’s hands were on his ass, lifting, oh god, _lifting_ him off the ground and all but slamming him into a wall, all the while kissing him like his life depended on it.

For all Victor knew it did – it certainly felt like it. He wasn’t any better of course, throwing away the idea of their talk without much consideration – it didn’t seem appealing compared to having Yuuri’s body against him.

Eventually the shorter man moved them both, practically throwing Victor onto the bed and climbing on top of him.

“What do you want to do?” Yuuri asked in between kisses – Victor needed a moment to understand the question and gave an unhappy whine when he did.

He had to _decide_? He wasn’t good at that. Then again...

“Uh... Sit on my face?” he asked Yuuri, his blush mirrored on the other man’s cheeks immediately.

“I... brought lube. Pina colada flavoured.” Yuuri said... and Victor grinned. God, he was going to drive Yuuri as crazy as the other man did him.

* * *

Victor woke up alone in the bed, already annoyed before he was even fully up. After a good night’s rest and with the haze of arousal from the night before gone, he realised he had done it AGAIN.

Not spoken to Yuuri, that was.

Sitting on the nightstand – mocking him – was another envelope. He hardly bothered checking the contents until he was already in his office, in a rumpled shirt with a button missing on the cuff.

Four grand and a small note that just had a few hearts doodled on it and the words “Thank you for last night, beautiful” in Yuuri’s fantastic handwriting.

He angrily threw it into his drawer, slamming it shut more loudly than was necessary. He REALLY needed to talk to Yuuri – at least now he had the man’s number.

Well, so he thought. When he actually checked though, he discovered that Yuuri had called him not with an unknown number as he’d assumed, but with no number at all.

So, Victor had no way of contacting him... Again.

He banged his forehead against his desk at the exact moment Chris opened the door to his office. His friend took one look at him, shook his head, and walked back out.

Well, Victor didn’t blame him.


	3. Chapter 3

It seemed Yuuri was pretty set on having their dates on Friday night because another week passed before Yuuri called again to arrange another.

He was once again cagey on the details of what they were doing, but Victor didn’t really mind – he was just determined to actually tell Yuuri, this time. He deserved the truth.

Although, a small voice inside of him couldn’t help but wonder if Yuuri would still want him without the whole escort thing. Did Yuuri want a relationship? And with someone like him? Someone married to work? Someone...

He forced himself to stop thinking about it.

* * *

Victor was almost completely hoarse from screaming and moaning – not that he’d had much say in that matter, once Yuuri had grabbed him by the back of the neck and _held him down_ while fucking him so hard he was a bit worried Yuuri might snap him in half.

He wasn’t entirely sure he would have protested that, given how spectacular it felt, not even once Yuuri was done and let go, and he finally collapsed onto the bed.

Previously, he’d passed out immediately, but somehow, this time, he stayed conscious long enough to hear Yuuri hum quietly as he cleaned himself up.

Something – he wasn’t sure what – made him pretend he was asleep when Yuuri came back to bed. The younger man chuckled and ran his fingers through Victor’s hair before pressing a kiss to his cheek and cuddling up to him under the blanket.

“You know, I’m glad I met you like this.” Yuuri whispered.

For a moment, he wondered how Yuuri could know he was awake before he realised the other man _didn’t_ – he was just... He was just talking to himself, sort of.

Victor forced himself to listen.

“I would have never approached you if it hadn’t been... for that. And I know you would never be with someone like me anyway, but I just feel so... glad that I got to meet you.” Yuuri sighed softly, while Victor fought with his entire being just to keep quiet and not interrupt – AND CORRECT – Yuuri.

“I guess it’s a good thing. I’m... I’m not really the relationship type anyway. This sort of thing is better. It has rules, boundaries.” Yuuri whispered, completely at odds with how he was snuggling ever closer.

“What a lucky man I am.” Yuuri whispered and pressed a kiss to Victor’s lips – insistent enough that he groaned quietly.

Yuuri seemed to take it as him being momentarily awake, because he immediately squirmed closer and tugged Victor towards him until they were all but wrapped up in each other.

This time, when sleep threatened to overtake his mind, he let it.

He woke up hours later, his body sore and aching in the best way, a sour taste in his mouth... And an envelope with five grand sitting on the nightstand.

* * *

“I don’t get the joke.” Chris said at the bar a day later.

“It’s not a joke.” Victor declared frostily, sipping his beer.

“So, you forgot to tell him _again_ , because he took you to some jazz club-” Chris began before Victor interrupted him with a huff.

“The _oldest_ jazz club in the country! And he danced with me, pretended it was the 20s and he was trying to be a suave gentleman. I didn’t even like jazz, but now I do!”

“Uh, yeah, right, whatever, _that-_ ” Chris agreed, unimpressed, “and then to a hotel, where he once again proceeds to absolutely destroy you-” Victor empathetically nodded at _that_ assessment. “-and then whispers to you that he doesn’t even want to date and leaves you money again.”

“That’s about right. Though honestly, the club was amazing. It just had this sort of historical air about it, and I just-”

“Okay, okay, I get it. Look, that’s fine and all, but... what are you going to do?! You can’t keep taking his money.”

“I _know..._ but he made it pretty clear he doesn’t want anything other than something casual.”

“But you do.”

Victor gave a small nod.

“So, you should tell him and end it.”

Victor ran a hand through his hair and hissed. “I... do want more, but not more than I want _him_ if that makes sense.”

Chris lightly patted him on the back. “Not at all, but I understand anyway. You know that what you’re doing is basically fraud, right?”

“I don’t want his money!” Victor snarled – and honestly, that was the least of his concerns. Quite frankly, the value of the shirts Yuuri had torn off him, the suits he’d ruined by crumpling them and in one case spilling champagne on them, easily exceeded the amounts the other man had left him.

“Chris, honestly, I’d pay _him_ for this if I thought it worked.”

His friend said nothing for several minutes, letting Victor steam in his miserableness.

“Okay. What I’m about to do I am literally only even considering because you are my best friend, this isn’t funny anymore, and also because I want to stop you from going to jail.” He said gravely, far more serious than he usually was.

Victor perked up – to his surprise, Chris handed him a manila envelope.

“What’s this?” he asked, accepting it automatically. It looked just like the ones they had at work, really.

Chris threw back the rest of his drink.

“Open it at home or at least in the car. Now excuse me, I need to go be around less lovesick gay men now. Like the one that’s been making eyes at me all night.” Chris said and sauntered off – Victor didn’t bother checking where to.

He just paid off their shared tab and got into the car he’d had waiting outside the bar.

With trembling fingers, he opened the envelope and took out its contents.

He could tell what it was at a glance, he’d seen plenty of them. An employee file. Personal info sheet, some liability waivers, NDAs, standard stuff for people employed by their company.

It wasn’t Chris’ or his own though – this one was for a relatively new employee in the... accounting department?

Victor’s stomach did a nervous flip as he quickly leafed to page four, the personal info sheet.

He wheezed in shock. There it was. Yuuri Katsuki, CPA. Had been with their company some eight months. No disciplinary actions, one bi-annual performance review that basically just praised him to high heavens.

Victor did a double-take at his salary – how did an employee on 60k a year living in Detroit pay him the money he had?!

Yuuri wasn’t rich – he’d picked that up easily enough, even if his careful calculations of his conservatively generous tips hadn’t given it away as well as his ugly suits did – so...

He winced at the line under his base pay – Yuuri received a bi-annual bonus payment together with his pay. The sum was depending on company performance... And the first payment had been a little over eleven grand.

So, he’d essentially spent his entire half-year bonus on... on dates, with _him._

More shocking than that though, was the discovery that they worked for the same company.

It wasn’t surprising he’d never met the other man – he had been to accounting exactly 0 times since joining the company several years before.

If he needed something, he had his assistant call down and one of the people there came up to him.

However, there it was, right in front of him. Victor scanned Yuuri’s info, picking up some new details. He’d known his age, his place of birth, even his job title... but he also found new info, for example on his emergency contact sheet. There were four listings – two parents, one sister and one colleague – an accounting employee at their firm by the name of Chulanont.

Victor carefully, gently, put the file back into the envelope as his car dropped him off, stumbling as if he was drunk on his way through the large entrance hall to the southern wing where he kept Makka when he was gone for longer.

He barely registered her excitement while pondering what Chris had given him, though that thought too gave him pause.

Chris had _known_ about this, and clearly for a while. Why hadn’t he said? _How_ had he known?

Victor sat down on his kitchen floor next to Makka and stared up at the ceiling.

What in the world was going on?!

* * *

He didn’t bother knocking before waltzing into Chris’ office the next day, badly startling an intern that immediately moseyed off.

He slammed the file down in front of Chris.

“You knew who he was.”

Chris sighed into his coffee. “For a while, yeah. The name and job sounded familiar, so a few days after your first date I went looking.”

Victor gaped at his friend. “You’ve known for _weeks_?”

“Mhm... It was funny at first. I actually went down to meet him, asked him to update some bogus info on his file.” Chris said, utterly unperturbed.

“You... What?”

“He’s cute. Seemed very shy but professional – and his boss fell over herself to praise him.” Chris said as if Victor hadn’t said a word.

“Chris! Have you seen his salary?”

The other man shrugged. “I signed off on it, not that I remember. Base salary is standard, though he negotiated one hell of a bonus payment scheme. Why?”

Because... Because Victor had almost 20k sitting in his desk AND YUURI ONLY MADE ABOUT 80K A YEAR.

“I need to find a way to pay him back his money.” Victor declared, his mind racing.

“Great. Go down there, tell him what happened and give it back.”

“I? What? No! He can’t know I work here. It’s a miracle he doesn’t know yet!”

“Well, that’s true. Victor, you can’t keep half-dating him and lying.”

He heavily fell into one of the chairs opposite of Chris’ desk. Of course, he knew that, but... The part of him that knew that was severely at odds with what he wanted, and it wasn’t exactly the part of him making the decisions.

He rubbed a hand across his face, trying to work out what to do.

When a cold glass nudged his hand, he accepted and drank the Amber liquid inside without hesitation.

“Isn’t it early for scotch?” he asked Chris.

“Not when you’re dealing with heartbreak before 10am.”

“I’m not _heartbroken._ ” Victor scoffed.

Chris didn’t buy it, apparently, and just gave him a pitying look.

A thought hit Victor with an almost physical sensation.

“Chris! Are our employees contractually banned from freelancing?”

His friend gaped for a moment before sighing and pulling up some file on his computer. Chris studied it for a minute, while Victor sipped some more scotch.

“Looks like you are, being C-level, but Yuuri isn’t – which I’m guessing is what you’re _really_ asking about.”

He didn’t bother denying it.

“So if someone higher up in the company was to offer him an overpaid part-time job, he’d be free to accept.” Victor mused.

“If someone did, yes. What do you have in mind?”

“Well, I was thinking... When’s the last time you’ve audited your finances?”

Chris giggled for a second before he realised that Victor was serious.

“Why exactly am I involved?”

Victor shrugged. “I can’t do it. That leaves you... And you’ve met him. Can say it was to check him out.”

“And what will I be paying him for the pleasure of auditing my _many_ porn subscriptions?” Chris asked drily.

He snickered. “You pay for porn? Well, okay then. I was thinking, maybe thirty, forty grand a month?”

Chris wheezed. “Which presumably you will pay him. In order for him to ideally... spend it on fake dating you?”

Victor emptied his glass. “Well, that’s up to him. I just don’t want to be the reason he has to... struggle for money.”

“How incredibly sweet. If you ignore the lying and manipulation. You’re not normally like this, Victor. What’s so different now?”

Instead of playing it off as a joke, Victor tried to answer him honestly... but he was too embarrassed to admit it to his friend, no matter how obvious it was to them both.

“Alright... I’m doing this because I love you, but you owe me BIG for this.” Chris huffed and picked up his phone, dialling an internal number.

Victor beamed.

“Yeah, Katsuki please. Sure, send him to my office in... Ten? Fifteen? Great.” Chris said before hanging up.

The HR chief gave him a mildly annoyed look. “You should probably go before he gets here. My office doesn’t have a backdoor and Yuuri seems the type to be early.”

He was scrambling out the door seconds later, Chris’ scotch glass forgotten on a shelf.


	4. Chapter 4

Victor was floating on air all the way from his car to the airport entrance. He had his suitcase with him – his oldest Louis Vuitton, dug out from the back of the closet, and filled with new clothes, all of which were 100% bought in the hope that Yuuri would tear them right back of him.

He eagerly waved at the man who was standing right by the main entrance, wrapped in what Victor noted with pleasure was a brand-new coat... It looked _fantastic_ on him.

“Yuuri! Sorry to keep you waiting!” He beamed at the younger man.

Yuuri smiled right back. “No worries! Plenty of time before we leave. Do you want to go check in?”

“Sure!” Victor agreed, incredibly flattered when Yuuri immediately took his suitcase from him and led him inside.

Not that he wasn’t already on cloud 7 even before they boarded – why wouldn’t he be, once Yuuri had called him and with a stutter, asked if he was free and did he want to go away for a weekend.

His plan with Chris had worked _beautifully_ – with the small hiccup that his friend had offered Yuuri FIFTY grand a month instead of the thirty he’d suggested.

Fair enough – he’d transferred him 55k for the first month. He wasn’t scared of amounts, certainly not with the amounts of money he had sitting around. He could keep their arrangement up for years if he wanted to... Hopefully, he’d be able to convince Yuuri of the merits of a conventional relationship before then.

That was his plan anyway.

He happily linked their arms together when Yuuri pointed out a little café to go to before their flight.

* * *

Victor had never been to the Maldives before. He’d not travelled for pleasure in so long, it hadn’t even occurred to him to go there... And Yuuri, it seemed, had spared no expense.

He’d felt like an utter sleaze ball doing it, but he’d negotiated a lower than usual rate with him over the phone. 5k a day, for three days, plus Yuuri was paying for their accommodation. It would, of course, go right back to Chris, but Yuuri didn’t know that... And Victor didn’t care as he studied the gorgeous little single-bed house Yuuri had rented for them.

It was decorated in the loveliest way, but the _real_ feature was its location – on stilts, in the water. No doubt that alone cost Yuuri several grand more.

The man had gone to put their suitcases in the bedroom while Victor explored the place.

He allowed himself to look out the window at the ocean for a moment, a wave of melancholy washing over him. He was in the most beautiful place he could ever remember seeing, with the most amazing man he’d ever met, but it was all tinged with lies, deceit, and worst of all _money._ He was starting to hate money, actually.

He’d never paid it any attention – it was something he had and used, nothing more. But now... Suddenly it was central to his life.

Strong arms wrapped around his middle and he went with Yuuri when he pulled Victor around with a chuckle.

“What were you thinking about?” Yuuri asked. “You looked really... pensive. Is something wrong?”

He shook his head.

“No, no. I was just thinking it’s been a long time since I’ve done this sort of thing, that’s all.”

Yuuri was visibly confused. “Is it... abnormal to ask for this sort of thing?”

He mentally scoffed – like he would know.

“It’s more that I haven’t exactly gotten away much. I forgot how... not-Detroit the rest of the world is.”

Yuuri grinned. “I know what you mean. You get in the habit, but then you remember how much more vibrant other places are.”

Victor hummed and leaned into Yuuri. “Well, at the very least Detroit certainly doesn’t have any sort of body of water that looks this picturesque.”

The Japanese man chuckled and wrapped an arm around his waist possessively. Arousal was starting to well up in Victor, but he wasn’t so keen to give in just yet.

“True enough.”

“What brought it on anyway? This sort of thing.” He asked, knowing the answer full well.

Yuuri flushed and looked away. “I... accepted a request to help out one of the bosses at my company. He needs some help with his finances.”

“Oh?” Victor asked, gasping in delight when Yuuri all but effortlessly picked him up, bridal style.

“Mhm... Based on what he’s offering to pay me, I can definitely see why he needs an accountant to help him out.”

Victor snickered, delighted when Yuuri carried him outside, carefully depositing him on a lounge chair there and sitting in the other one next to it.

“Mhm. I can’t tell you any details but his spending is... uh, unusual.”

His grin widened even more – he was going to have to press for details. The opportunity for blackmail material was too good to pass up.

“And he’s the reason you took me here?”

The other man shrugged. “Yeah. I always wanted to do this sort of thing with someo- I just felt like a getaway.” Yuuri corrected himself mid-sentence, not meeting Victor’s eyes.

Oh.

Huh.

So Yuuri dreamed about whisking a lover away to exotic places? Well, he could work with that.

“Do you want to go swimming, Yuuri?” he asked – only _mostly_ because he wanted Yuuri out of his travel clothes.

The man grinned.

“We could do that. Or we could just... explore the inside a little bit first.” Yuuri suggested, a twinkle in his eyes... And oh, just like that Victor was half-hard and closing the gap between them to kiss Yuuri.

* * *

Floating on some sort of misshapen blow-up float thing that may or may not have been a depiction of an ice lolly, Victor watched his lover.

Yuuri was in the ocean as well, but unlike Victor, who was just lounging in the sun, Yuuri was working out – he was swimming lanes, more or less, in the calm water around their little lodge on stilts.

Victor couldn’t get enough of seeing him that way – Yuuri panting, working his body was, apparently, a major... thing for him.

He discreetly adjusted himself and kicked his feet in order to float a little closer to Yuuri again.

He was exhausted – he had no idea how Yuuri could even work out after taking Victor apart for well over an hour.

He’d needed a couple minutes afterwards just to make sure that his legs were still working... And he wasn’t even the one that had done the work, so to speak.

Yuuri had decided to ride him, so Victor had found himself on his back, his hands running over Yuuri’s incredible thighs with each flex and movement – until Yuuri had ordered him to hold on to the headboard, anyway. That too, had been a major turn-on for him… he loved how confidently Yuuri took charge in the bedroom.

He was getting hard just remembering it.

Shaking off the thought, he decided he’d laid around enough – he was getting lonely on his float.

He unceremoniously rolled off it, splashing into the water and diving lower. He could see Yuuri swimming nearby, and swam a bit closer, surfacing a few feet from the other man.

Yuuri squawked and lost his rhythm, nearly careening into Victor, who was all too happy to stop them from colliding, before they were both treading water.

“Did you get bored on there?” Yuuri asked, a little out of breath.

“Mhm... I got lonely. Say, I saw in that flyer that they have a dance contest at the restaurant each night. Do you want to take part?”

Yuuri chuckled and started back stroking towards the ladder that led back to the cabin.

“Would you like to?”

“Well, I wouldn’t mind giving it a try, that’s for sure.” He said with a happy smile. The idea of dancing to Latin music with Yuuri in a Caribbean paradise... Yes, he liked it.

“If that’s what you want, then that’s what we’ll do.” Yuuri said without the slightest hesitation.

Victor was so busy mentally swooning he forgot to tread water for a second, nearly sliding under water.

Glad that Yuuri who was already out hadn’t seen, he followed the other man out. Dancing on stage with Yuuri was going to be the second-best thing of the day.

“Do you want to shower together?” Yuuri called over from the bathroom.

Third-best, he decided, before eagerly following the other man.

* * *

First place came with two drinks on the house for each of them, it turned out – and Yuuri wasn’t so great at holding his liquor as Victor learned.

By the time they were heading back, the Japanese accountant was swaying quite a bit, and Victor was leading him.

Yuuri was mumbling something in Japanese – he didn’t understand a word of it, but enjoyed the way it sounded.

They made slow progress back to their little lodge, but Victor didn’t mind. Nor did he mind when Yuuri fell straight into bed, snoring, while Victor went to take another quick shower and crawling into bed with Yuuri.

It felt almost _too_ intimate to lay next to the sleeping man, and his heart was racing when he leaned in and pressed a kiss to Yuuri’s unresponsive lips.

He allowed himself what was no doubt a stupid smile – he was giddy with happiness, to the point where it felt like his body was vibrating because of it.

He snuggled down next to Yuuri and closed his eyes, praying that he’d be able to seduce Yuuri into a real relationship.

He ruthlessly squashed the thoughts about how... wrong that seemed.

* * *

Victor woke up with a moan – he couldn’t immediately place why, at least until he tensed his body, and became aware of the fingers that were playing with his ass.

Yuuri was moving them at a leisurely pace, but he’d clearly been doing it for a while, because Victor was rock hard, his body practically begging for more, and faster.

“Y-Yuuri?” he groaned, a little surprised when the other man stopped him from turning around, instead keeping him pressed to the bed, as he was, on his stomach.

“Wha-at?” he groaned again, just as Yuuri twisted his fingers just _so_ and he moaned incoherently.

A soft kiss was pressed between his shoulder blades, and then the fingers in him sped up.

He wanted more, wanted to ask for more, but his words absolutely failed him. When Yuuri pulled back and replaced his fingers with his dick, Victor barely managed a quiet sob into the mattress, his hips pushing back against Yuuri’s, speeding up with each thrust.

Yuuri wasn’t careful, not in the least, and Victor was loving the rough pace he set.

He was still not used to how effortlessly Yuuri wanted to be on top, wanted to determine how things went. His previous partners expected him to take the lead, to provide, to take care of them.

He liked that too, but the way Yuuri just devoured him nearly every time they were together satisfied something in him, he hadn’t even been aware of.

He was almost surprised when he came with a hoarse cry, his hips stuttering as he did.

He was definitely a bit surprised when Yuuri came right along with him – usually, the younger man wildly outlasted him, stamina-wise. Not that Victor minded – there was something lovely about finishing together... And about the way Yuuri collapsed onto him surprisingly gently.

When he pushed up, Yuuri rolled off of him, and he finally got to turn around to look at the other man.

There was something… off about Yuuri’s expression.

“Good morning?” he asked, hoping he was mistaken.

“Morning.” Yuuri said, his voice… tense.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, his stomach dropping.

“Nothing, why? I guess I’m just hungover. Sorry. Was it okay to wake you up like that?”

He smiled happily and pressed a kiss to Yuuri’s cheek. “It was fantastic.”

He tried to hide the sting of it when Yuuri backed away just a tiny bit before holding still for the kiss.

What was going on?


	5. Chapter 5

Victor had decided to give it a few hours, to see if Yuuri would go back to normal, if that strange distance would disappear. He wanted to know if there was a way to fix it, to make it better… or if Yuuri would just get over it himself, really.

He didn’t.

The end of their second night, they were laying in bed next to each other. Yuuri hadn’t initiated anything, and he’d acted off all day. Victor was confused – Yuuri had denied all of his requests to tell him what was wrong, and had eventually requested Victor stop asking.

And he had, really. He had.

For a while.

Now he was done waiting. He wasn’t built to deal with this sort of anxiety… so he took a deep breath, rolled over and pinned Yuuri to the bed, both by holding his wrists and sitting on his waist.

It said a lot that Yuuri’s first reaction was confusion, followed by shock… and then he looked away.

“Yuuri, you need to tell me why you’re suddenly so different. Is it something I did?”

For a moment, the other man flexed his arms, as if to test Victor’s hold – no doubt he could break free, and Victor could tell he _wanted_ to, but for some reason, he decided not to.

“It’s not really something you did. Not really, really, anyway. It’s… ah, it’s me. Can you let go of me?”

“Only if you promise to stop avoiding me.”

With a grunt, Yuuri rolled himself over, knocking Victor clear off and reversing their position, pinning him. Victor didn’t bother struggling – Yuuri had made his point. He swallowed down his disappointment and closed his eyes for a few moments.

“Fine, I promise.” Yuuri said quietly before pulling back.

Victor opened his eyes with a tangible sense of relief. They both sat up, a foot apart on the bed, and he waited for Yuuri to break the silence.

“Last night, when you helped me home… you know I was just babbling, right? You don’t have to feel like…” he broke off with an audibly frustrated sigh.

“Y-Yuuri, if this is about what you said, then I have no idea about it. It… you were speaking Japanese.”

Yuuri froze completely, for several seconds. “I was… I was WHAT?” His voice had an oddly shrill tone to it, one that would have made Victor laugh any other time.

“You were speaking Japanese. Were you really upset about… that?”

Yuuri groaned. “I… yes? I said some things I shouldn’t have, but I was too drunk to really remember, and I…” he broke off again, and cursed quietly.

“What did you say?” Victor asked, on the off chance Yuuri would tell him.

The reaction was immediate – Yuuri almost physically closed off.

“I realised some things. About what I… want. And I thought that I said them to you.”

Victor smiled softly. “And… and I’m not supposed to know what you want?”

“Well, for what it’s worth, this is a business arrangement. You’re not… you’re not my therapist. I guess I’ve been ignoring the rules a lot, and I… I shouldn’t have.”

Victor’s heart clenched painfully. “…Rules?”

Yuuri sighed and stretched out. “Before I invited you here, I checked the website of your service again. And… and the rules there. And I, uhm, realised that I broke tons of them.”

His service. Right. Because Victor was an escort and Yuuri was his client.

“Rules…?” He feebly asked.

Yuuri nodded. “You know them. No personal details, no arrangements unless it’s via the agency, that stuff.”

Victor nodded, albeit it was the first he heard of it.

“You… broke those rules?” Yuuri asked. “Why?”

“That’s… not what you were talking about a minute ago. You said it was about what YOU wanted.” Victor said, softly.

Yuuri winced. “Y-Yeah, I did say that. I don’t want… I mean, I know you do this for the money, and I just don’t want you to feel like you breaking the rules is… is a condition to this. Like you _have to_.”

He was oddly touched, actually – Yuuri was being considerate in a really odd way. Victor reached out, gently taking Yuuri’s hand. The other man let him, however reluctantly.

“L-Look, I like the way we do this. It… there are certain advantages to us contacting each other directly.” Like it happening _at all_ , he mentally added.

Yuuri relaxed at that. “Oh? It… does?”

“Yeah. Look, I like what we’ve been doing. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be doing this.”

Yuuri stayed quiet for a few moments, and Victor felt obligated to say more.

“Besides, is it so hard to believe that I just like being with you?”

Victor fought tears when Yuuri just laughed – laughed like Victor had made a joke.

It hurt.

More than he cared to admit.

“We should just go to sleep, I think.” Yuuri eventually said. “It’s been a long day. I’m sorry I made things weird.”

Victor swallowed down everything he wanted to say and laid down.

* * *

Being back in his flat, even with Makka by his side felt hollow.

The last day of their trip had been… fine, again. Not like the first day, with the easy intimacy and the casual closeness between them, but more like their first date – Yuuri cautiously fumbling about. Unlike the first date, Victor wasn’t just curious about the cute guy that had asked him out, but actively hurting for the way Yuuri treated him just a day ago.

Which… was probably why he grabbed Yuuri by the wrist, practically slammed him into the wall of their bedroom, and sucked him off like his life depended on it that same morning. It worked, for a couple hours – they ended up in bed, Yuuri’s feet brushing his own as they giggled about something or other… but then it faded, and things went back to being awkward.

Victor did his _best_ to make it stop – he pounced on Yuuri as soon as the man sat on the couch, giving him a shoulder massage that ended with Yuuri riding him on the couch until he couldn’t feel his legs anymore.

And then, a couple hours after that… Yuuri was awkwardly chuckling when Victor suggested that they go for a swim together, and just like that, Victor was floating in the ocean, while Yuuri did something on his laptop. It was frustrating to no end.

Despite all that, though, he loved his trip, loved having gone away with Yuuri, and he didn’t look forward to going back to the office, to waiting for another call from Yuuri even though the other man was just a few floors below him for most of the day.

Seeing Makka again – she’d been with a sitter – had been great, but… but he’d have to go back to the office in just a few hours, and… and he didn’t want to go.

He gently pressed a kiss to the tie he was playing with – it was a hideous, vomit-green thing that Yuuri had worn and that he had casually stolen when they’d packed for the trip back.

He glanced at his phone, not that he expected it to ring. No, it wouldn’t, not for another week, probably. Maybe more. He didn’t know when Yuuri would call next – a fact that had never bothered him more than it did then and there, cuddling Makka on his couch, a tear or two dripping down onto the stolen tie.

* * *

In the end, he took the coward’s way out and called in sick. Made his assistant reschedule everything, and just stayed home for a few more days. Wednesday, he got a visitor – unusual to say the least. As much as he and Chris were friends, he hadn’t known Chris even knew where he lived when he invited the man inside and made them both coffee.

“Nice to see you’re still alive.” Chris said, only half-mocking.

“Yes, well, I didn’t feel like going to the office.”

“Because Yuuri is there and you can’t see him?”

“In part.”

Chris reclined on his couch and smiled weakly. “Tell me the rest and maybe I’ll tell you something interesting about him.”

“Huh?! Is something wrong? Did something happen?”

“No, no, not at all. I just became aware of something that might interest you about him. But first, tell me about the trip.”

Victor didn’t exactly like being blackmailed, but… He DID want to talk about it.

So, he grudgingly told Chris what happened – or at least the PG-13 version of it. When he was done, their coffee cups were empty, and Chris looked to be deep in thought.

“Well, that’s quite the weekend you had. Sounds like your beau had some revelations, huh?”

Victor shrugged. “What’s your big news?”

Chris clicked his tongue. “Well, on the company side, they just announced the big annual company get-together. An overnight stay at the Four Seasons in New York.”

He scoffed. “Not interested.”

“Thought you might say that, BUT attendance is mandatory for you and I, and accountants are invited to. In other words, you may run into him. Something to think about.”

Victor gulped – that was something he hadn’t considered. “That’s not it though, is it?”

“No, it’s not. Yuuri got in touch with me. Asked me if I minded giving him an advance on next month’s fee. Any idea what he’d need that for?”

Victor paused – he had no idea whatsoever.

“Well, this was enlightening. Will you be back to the office soon?” Chris asked in his overly chipper tone.

He shrugged. “Probably. I can’t avoid it forever.”

“You also can’t keep pretending you’re a hooker forever.” Chris said. Victor was getting pretty sick of him making good points.

“It’s only until he decides he… wants a real relationship.”

“What if he never does? Not that you aren’t a catch, but you can’t force him… and not everyone wants a relationship. You know that.”

Victor sighed deeply. “I do know that… but… Chris, he doesn’t touch me like someone who doesn’t want to be with me.”

“That so? Or is that just what you want to believe?”

He didn’t have an answer for that.


	6. Chapter 6

Yuuri called him only two days later, to his shock and delight. They agreed to meet after work at a cocktail bar – Victor didn’t have time to go home and change, so he headed straight there after work. Yuuri was still dressed in his work suit as well – he still had his access badge clipped to his suit jacket pocket, right there with Victor’s company name on it.

It made him pause for a second, like it was suddenly more… real than it had been before.

He gulped before sliding into the seat next to Yuuri. This meeting was… unusual, to say the least. He was worried.

“Hi!” he greeted Yuuri – despite his worries, he was still happy to see him again.

Yuuri turned with a smile. “Hi! Thanks for meeting me on such short notice.”

“No problem. Is there… something wrong?”

Yuuri cleared his throat. “Well… no. Maybe. That depends. I… I’ve been thinking.”

“Okay?”

“When I was reading through the website, I saw something among the rules?”

It took Victor a second to realise what Yuuri meant – that infernal escort service again.

“What did you see?”

Yuuri gulped. “Exclusive contracts. That… is that something you’d consider? I mean… I mean I’m sure you’re popular, but…”

Victor cleared his throat. “Would I consider… an exclusive contract? With you?”

The other man flushed. “I-I guess not. I’m sorry, it was stupid to ask.”

Victor quickly shook his head, his hand landing on Yuuri’s arm. “No! No! I would absolutely be interested in that. But, uhm, if you want that… why not just date me normally?”

His heart is racing as he looks into Yuuri’s eyes – the other man showed a complex range of emotions for a few seconds that Victor had no hope of deciphering at all. Then, Yuuri looked almost sad, before a weak grin took over his face and he shrugged.

“What… what conditions do you want for the contract? I mean, we’ll have to set a monthly allowance, and arrange for some regular meetings and such…” Yuuri stammered.

Victor’s heart broke a little, and he forced himself to smile. Really, it was still progress. Yuuri wanted to be exclusive. It was progress, even if it didn’t feel like it.

“What did you have in mind?” Victor asked.

“W-Well, I can afford, maybe fifty grand a month.” Yuuri stuttered – and Victor nearly melted. That was why he’d wanted an advance… and why he’d asked to meet.

He beamed. “Yuuuuuuri! That’s too much! We won’t be able to spend that much time together. How about 30?”

Yuuri grinned. “You’re negotiating for _less_?”

Victor returned the smile. “Well, you have a job, so there’s only so much time we can spend together! I don’t want to just… take your money.” Not that it WAS Yuuri’s money, but that was another issue entirely. He was now going to be paying him _self_ to spend time with Yuuri.

“Fair enough. I guess that way I’ll be able to spend more on the things we do.”

He nodded – for all he cared Yuuri could take him to a McDonald’s.

“O-Obviously it would be exclusive. So, you don’t see anyone else.”

“Of course. And… regular meetings?”

“Yes. How… when are you available? On… weekends? Weeknights?”

“Well, other than the time I spend with Makka, I’m pretty much free whenever. Though, I do have something coming up in a few weeks.” He amended, remembering the stupid company trip.

Yuuri nodded. “Fair enough. I guess we could do dinners on Friday, spend Saturdays doing something… and maybe another meeting on Tuesdays or Wednesdays? How does that sound?”

Like Victor should be paying _him_ for his time.

Which… he sort of was. He mentally snickered.

“Yeah, that’s good. That… are there any other conditions? Things you want me to pay for?”

Victor looked up and down Yuuri’s form.

“How about a budget for clothes? Suits and such.”

Yuuri nodded. “Sure! I-I’ve noticed that you dress very… well.”

Preening at the compliment, Victor ran a hand through his hair. “In that case, would you like to go shopping with me?”

“Shopping… _with_ you? I guess, if you’d like.”

“Great! Finish your drink and let’s go!”

“O-Oh, you mean now!”

“Why not?”

Yuuri clearly didn’t have an answer – although he looked like he desperately wanted one.

* * *

“I-Is this where you bought that suit?” Yuuri asked, looking around the Armani store.

Victor shook his head. “No, this one is Tom Ford.” He answered, his eyes scanning the rack for something fitting. He had already pulled out several of the things he thought would be a good fit – like the gentleman he was, Yuuri had taken them from him immediately and held them for him.

When he was satisfied with his selection, he dragged Yuuri towards the changing rooms, a shop assistant following them.

“Y-You’re going to try all these on?” Yuuri asked, looking at the pile of clothes in his hands.

Victor grinned.

“Oh no… _you_ are going to try them on!”

With that, he shoved Yuuri the rest of the way into the changing room, ignoring his squawk of protest, and settled in the chair in front of the changing room, in eager anticipation of when Yuuri would step back out in a suit that actually _fit_.

* * *

Less than an hour later, Victor was sporting a semi, casually hidden behind the notebook he’d set on his lap to write down what he was going to make Yuuri wear. That this came with the benefit of seeing Yuuri look really, really attractive and on occasion without a shirt, well, that was just an added bonus.

The other man hadn’t protested too much at Victor’s suggestion he try things on, nor had he seemed bothered by Victor… checking in on him.

A lot.

Victor had spent the last four or so suits just fantasizing about Yuuri fucking him right there in the little changing room. Needless to say, for perhaps the first time in his life, he was actually glad when shopping was over. Casually covering himself with his folded-up suit jacket, he handed his notebook to the shop attendant – it even had notes on where to take the suits in or change the fit a little.

Yuuri was back in his original outfit – Victor was a bit disappointed, even as he watched Yuuri pay for Victor’s list before following him outside.

“Did seeing me try those on really help you pick what you want?” Yuuri asked once they were back outside.

Victor chuckled. “What? No! Of course not. Those were all for you. They’ll be delivered to your workplace in the next couple of days.” He’d left instructions for that on his note too.

“How… how do you know where I work?” Yuuri asked.

He’d never actually told Victor the name of their company, but…

“You have an ID tag on your suit jacket.” Victor said, pointing to the thing that was still dangling there.

Yuuri looked at it like he’d never seen the thing before, before laughing. “R-Right. Uhm, would you… like to go somewhere together?”

Victor’s erection was back in an instant.

“Anywhere you’d like.”

* * *

“So, you’re paying me to pay him to pay you to not be with anyone else now?” Chris asked, sipping his cocktail. They were at some bar Chris had dragged him to after work the next day.

“He wants me to be with him exclusively.”

“How romantic. Thought about what you’re going to do at the company retreat yet?”

“Probably say I’m sick. Or… something.”

“You know that won’t fly.”

“You sound like you have a suggestion?”

“Maybe, maybe.”

“Are you going to share?”

“I will if you buy me another drink.”

Victor rolled his eyes but got his friend another one of his colourful cocktails. Chris showily sipped some of it with a smile.

“Ahh… well, as you know, I’m the _head of HR_. As I’m sure you’re aware. Now if I was to make a… mistake in booking flights and hotels, Yuuri _might_ end up somewhere else.” _HHR_

“That’d be too mean, Chris. I’ll have to think of something else.”

“Fine… fine… Then I guess you better invent some dead aunt whose funeral you need to attend, or I can’t help you.”

“Why will being sick not work?” Victor whined into his glass.

“Because, my friend, you’re scheduled to _speak_ at one of the panels there.”

“So?”

“They’ll ask you to video call unless you’re in a coma, and I’m pretty sure at this point, Yuuri would recognise your face.”

He moaned quietly. “Yeah… yeah that makes sense. A coma is a bit extreme.”

“Glad you’re not completely insane yet.”

He sighed weakly – not… yet.


	7. Chapter 7

Victor was all but sobbing, his fingers clutching at Yuuri’s back, legs wrapped around his waist. Neither of them were moving much, it was just a gentle rocking, of Yuuri shifting inside of him, without ever really pulling out.

They’d been going like that for a long time, and Victor couldn’t even tell if he was close to coming or not, not even with Yuuri’s taut stomach brushing over his hard cock really cleared that up for him.

He knew his nails, although blunt, had to be leaving bloody scratches on Yuuri’s back, and he absolutely loved the thought of leaving _marks_ on him. He had a bunch of his own already – Yuuri had sucked more than one love bite into his neck and torso, and there was still a faint hint of the bruises Yuuri’s fingers had left on his hips from last time.

They were on their third week of his ‘exclusive’ contract, and Victor was floating, pretty much permanently. After another odd meeting, things had gone back to how they were, before it had gotten weird. And that night… well, Yuuri had surprised him.

They’d always been passionate – never gentle and slow like Yuuri was with him then. He’d always found the distinction between sex and lovemaking to be a bit stupid, but with Yuuri rocking into him, with warm pleasure rolling through him with every tiny thrust.

He wasn’t sure what was different, just that his heart had absolutely no defence for it – not that he _hadn’t_ already been madly in love with Yuuri before, but being so closely entwined with him, Victor felt raw and open in a way he’d never felt before… and he absolutely loved it.

Moaning Yuuri’s name on a particularly well-timed motion, he felt himself spill between them, but his orgasm changed very little – the pleasure didn’t abate any after, and Yuuri kept moving just as he had been. Several minutes – or maybe an eternity – later, Yuuri’s motions stopped and buried himself deeper within Victor, coming with a shudder and a hoarse cry of Victor’s name.

Victor held him close, not even releasing him enough to roll off him – he buried his face in Yuuri’s hair and just… held him.

Yuuri made no motion to pull away, and after a few moments, Victor realised that the younger man had straight up fallen asleep. He shifted them into a slightly more comfortable position and carded his fingers through Yuuri’s hair, pleased when, even asleep, the other man snuggled closer to him when he did.

He fell asleep with a sappy smile, unable to think about anything other than how in love he was with Yuuri Katsuki.

* * *

When Victor woke up the next morning, he immediately knew something was off – it took him a second to place what it was.

Yuuri – he was still asleep, but he was tossing and turning, his face visibly sweaty.

Victor touched his forehead – it was immediately obvious he was running a fever. Since he was passed out, Victor frantically called Chris, since he figured the other man would know what to do.

“Chris!” he hissed into the phone as soon as the other man picked up.

“Victor. It’s 5am, why did you wake me up?” his friend groaned.

“Yuuri is sick! He has a fever! What do I do?”

Chris huffed, and Victor vaguely heard another voice in the background – oops. Chris wasn’t alone.

“Are you at his place?”

“No, a hotel.”

“Then take him home, put him to bed and give him something against the fever. Maybe make him some food.” Chris advised.

Victor took a deep breath, trying to figure out where to start.

“Chris! I don’t know where he lives! I don’t know what medication to use… and I DON’T KNOW HOW TO COOK!” he half-whispered, his eyes glued to Yuuri, who was shifting restlessly.

“Oh my god why am I friends with you?” Chris moaned. He rustled about for a few seconds, then put Victor on speaker. “Right then, I’m logging into my computer. Give me a minute and I’ll tell you his address.”

He paused. “You… know where he lives?”

Chris sighed, long and deep. “I am the HEAD OF HR. I know where EVERYONE lives. Have you got a pen?”

Victor fumbled with the pen and notepad the hotel provided. “Yeah.”

Chris dictated him the address, followed by what medication to use – and a recommendation for a restaurant that delivered soup.

“You owe me. Big.” Chris huffed.

“I know. First class flights next time you fly to Europe?”

Chris scoffed. “First class, your driver drops me off and picks me up AND a spa treatment when I’m in Switzerland.”

Victor grinned. “Got it. Just charge my card.”

“Always do!” his friend fake-chirped and then just… hung up.

He shook his head and set about his real task – getting Yuuri dressed and home. He briefly contemplated getting a cab, but changed his mind quickly. He summoned his driver and gently coaxed a half-conscious Yuuri into his clothes. Checkout was easy – he explained his predicament and signed for the room himself.

His driver was nice enough to help Yuuri into his town car… and then they were off, driving to a part of the city Victor had never been to. Yuuri’s apartment was on the second floor of a pretty dingy-looking building, and when the man’s knees buckled as soon as they got out, he unceremoniously swept Yuuri up into his arms and carried him up the stairs.

He’d already taken Yuuri’s keys, and so let himself in, carrying Yuuri straight to his bedroom. It was easy enough to find – the flat only had three rooms – a bedroom, a bath, and a living room/kitchenette. It was… small. Cheap.

Not the sort of place he’d expected – surely someone with Yuuri’s current income could afford better?

He tucked him into bed and gently wiped his brow before investigating the bathroom – Yuuri seemed like the sort of person to have medications for fever at home. He was right – the stuff Chris had recommended, Yuuri had some in his bathroom cabinet. He gave Yuuri two of the pills, as per the instructions, and went to turn his heating up a little so he wouldn’t get cold.

A quick investigation of the kitchen revealed that it was actually fairly well-stocked… however, he didn’t know how to cook. That left Chris’ other suggestion – takeout.

He called up the restaurant Chris had told him about and he quickly ordered them some soup for delivery.

Then, his curiosity took over – he went snooping. There were a few pictures of a younger Yuuri with some family, even a photo of the poodle Yuuri had told him he had… and not much else in the way of personal stuff. He found accounting books – urgh – and a few books in Japanese he couldn’t read.

Other than that, there was a sad-looking houseplant that he watered… and then he went for the closet. The suits he’d ordered for Yuuri were hung up, each in protective covers – he mentally applauded Yuuri. Next to that were some of those old, ugly suits he’d seen him wear… and next to _that_ were sweatpants and old t-shirts.

Victor barely hesitated before stripping out of his own, wrinkled suit and into some of Yuuri’s stuff. The sweatpants were a bit tight and a bit short, but he felt like a teenage girl borrowing her boyfriend’s sweater when he pulled on Yuuri’s ‘Tokyo University’ shirt. It was loose on him – he was seriously considering stealing it.

He’d already helped Yuuri take his clothes off, so he set a change of clothes out for him too, before wandering into the living room. Yuuri was asleep, and seemingly peacefully at that, so he let him be and sat on the couch with his phone.

It was surprisingly comfortable… and as he tracked their delivery on the app, he also remembered to call in sick. It was about time for them to be in the office – getting Yuuri home had taken some time. He dialled Chris again – call declined.

He tried again, and a third time, before calling Chris assistant. The peppy young man picked up immediately and transferred him when he realised who was calling.

“Giacometti, human resources?” Chris greeted him, clearly having not checked caller ID.

“Hey Chris!” He greeted cheerfully.

Chris groaned in annoyance. “Oh, what now?”

“No need to be snarky. I just wanted to call in sick, that’s all.”

The other man huffed. “Yeah, yeah. I’ve marked him as off sick and you as working from home already.”

“Why that?”

“Because Yuuri’s contract doesn’t have a work at home clause. Besides, he’s got sick days piled up anyway.”

“R-Right. Well, thanks. Sorry to bother you.”

“It’s all good. Say, I’m actually about to book the New York trip. Found a solution yet?”

Victor gulped. “I… no. Not yet.”

“Are you any closer to confessing who you are yet?”

He sighed – no need to answer, Chris knew he wasn’t.

“I’m afraid of losing him.” Victor admitted after a few seconds of silence.

“Well, you should probably mention it before you move in with him. What if he wants to see where you live?”

“He… he never asks me about myself much. The escort site he thinks I work for, it has rules and such. And one of them is not to ask for personal info. He’s always respected that. He only knows what I told him.”

“How convenient. You know, this WHOLE thing could have been avoided if you’d just been honest from the start?”

Victor whined low in his throat. “I KNOW that, Chris!”

To his complete shock, something heavy slumped against his side – Yuuri. Somehow, the man had come out of the bedroom and over to him without him even noticing – and he was now heavily leaning into Yuuri.

“Who’s Chris?” Yuuri slurred, his unfocused eyes blinking up at Victor.

“H-He’s just someone I know from work.” Victor said, trying to sound calm – Chris, meanwhile, was snickering into his ear.

“Oh? He’s not another client? Y-You’re sticking to the agreement, right?” Yuuri asked, his voice so vulnerable Victor just wanted to hug him.

“Oh, oh of course I am. There is nobody else, I promise. Just you.” He assured him, tuning out the retching sounds Chris was making. He really needed better friends.

“Say goodbye to your spa treatment, Chris!” Victor cheerily declared before hanging up and devoting his full attention to fussing over Yuuri.


	8. Chapter 8

When his lover was back in bed – asleep, Victor squeezed into his small bed next to him – Victor allowed himself to relax. It seemed Yuuri hadn’t overheard what he’d said about the escort agency… which meant that he was ‘safe’ so to speak.

He ran a hand along Yuuri’s cheekbone, pleased when the other man leaned into the touch. He’d fed Yuuri some soup, had urged him to have a quick shower, and had finally helped him into a fresh pair of sweatpants.

Then, he’d had him lay down – Yuuri had insisted that he join him.

Victor had been more than happy to do so – there were worse things than to be stuck in bed with Yuuri, even if he couldn’t exactly get any sleep like that.

When it became obvious that Yuuri wasn’t about to wake back up any time soon, Victor decided to get some rest himself – by curling up on the couch. It wasn’t really that comfortable, but he found a spare blanket in Yuuri’s bedroom, so he could make do.

It never really occurred to him to go home – even with only just a few days left to go before the company retreat, he wanted to spend every moment possible with Yuuri. If he was honest with himself, he probably wanted to spend that time with Yuuri at least in part BECAUSE he was afraid of what would happen in New York.

He was desperate for a way to avoid it, but he was also realistic enough to accept that it might be impossible to avoid both of them going – and with how high-profile Victor was, well…

It could well be the end of their… arrangement, and not the sort of end that he wanted that stupid ‘exclusive’ contract to have.

* * *

Victor was startled awake by what sounded like a bird squawking – to his surprise, it was Yuuri that had made the sound, and Yuuri that had woken him. The man looked like death, and he was squinting at Victor from the kitchenette.

“Vic... tor?” he asked tentatively.

“Yuuri! You’re awake! How are you feeling?”

He scrambled up to check on him. Yuuri was holding a cup of soup and a spoon.

“I’m... not sure? What happened?”

“Well, you got a pretty bad fever so I took you home, got you soup and put you to bed.”

Yuuri gulped and Victor took his soup just to make sure he wouldn’t drop it.

“Oh... I don’t remember that. Why... are you here?”

He grinned. “Well, I couldn’t just leave you, could I?”

Yuuri gave him the _softest_ smile and leaned up to press a kiss to his cheek – Victor nearly swooned.

“Thank you. I don’t want you to leave.”

Before Victor could reply, Yuuri’s stomach growled. He chuckled.

“Lay back down and I’ll heat this up for you.” He offered.

Yuuri nodded and stumbled back to the bedroom – Victor followed once he’d microwaved the soup.

Yuuri was sitting up against the headboard, visibly quite out of it.

He carefully set the soup and the tray he’d put it on on Yuuri’s lap and waited for him to eat.

“I... had a dream.” Yuuri said in between sips.

“Oh?”

“Mhm... It, uhm, you and me, we were together.”

Victor’s breath hitched. “Oh?”

“Mhm... I was making love to you. It was pretty amazing.” Yuuri said – Victor wheezed quietly.

“That... wasn’t a dream, Yuuri.” He softly corrected, inching closer.

“Wasn’t it? But how could it be real?” Yuuri asked, swaying a little on the bed.

“It was. And I really liked it.”

Yuuri smiled up at him, his spoon sliding into the soup.

“You did? I... that’s good. Because... because I really like you.” Yuuri confessed.

Victor hesitated for a second before leaning down and pressing a firm kiss to Yuuri’s lips. The other man gently kissed back – Victor’s heart was soaring.

“I like you too... A lot, my Yuuri.” He whispered, an arm wrapped around Yuuri’s shoulders.

“’s good. Means you won’t leave me...” the younger man mumbled, his head lilting against Victor’s shoulder... And just like that, he was passed out again.

It took a bit of manoeuvring to get him laying down and the rest of the soup to safety, but Victor managed.

He all but floated back to his couch. Checking the time, he realised he had to go home pretty soon – Makka couldn’t be left alone indefinitely. She had a sitter during the day, and plenty of space, access to food, water, and the garden overnight, but he couldn’t fathom the idea of letting her be lonely for too long.

After a moment’s consideration, he penned a quick note to Yuuri, explaining why he had to leave, quietly let himself out, already dialling his driver. A quick stop home was really all he needed – and then he could go back to caring for what he was pretty sure was the love of his life.

That at least, had been the _idea_.

It took him a little while to get everything sorted out – after all, he owed Makka plenty of petting and cuddling. Some two hours later, he was ready to leave again though – pulling out his phone, he paused.

He had a text – from Yuuri. Generally, this would be a happy occasion, however, the contents of the text were anything but.

‘Hi Victor, I’m sorry to do it like this, but I’d like to end our arrangement. I had a really great time with you, but I don’t think I can continue. Sorry, it’s so sudden, I just think it’s for the best. Sorry’

Victor gaped at his phone, only working out why the edges of his vision were blurry when the first tear hit the screen of his smartphone.

It wasn’t the only one – he was trying to make sense of what happened even as he all but sobbed.

Makka immediately crawled into his lap, but even the affection of his faithful companion couldn’t soothe the gaping hole that had opened up in his chest all of a sudden.

Yuuri was... dumping him? Without explanation? But why? The man had JUST told Victor he liked him, and that he didn’t want to lose him.

What could possibly have happened in such a short amount of time?

‘Why?’ he texted back after a while, his finger shaking.

The reply was quick. ‘I just think I’m not really happy with the arrangement anymore. Sorry. I’ll still pay you for the full month of course.’

Like that cleared anything up.

He tried to call Yuuri a few times, but the call was declined every time. After maybe a half-hour, he pulled up a different contact and dialled.


	9. Chapter 9

“That’s... really kind of savage. You really don’t know what happened?” Chris said from his position next to Victor. They were both stretched out on the bed – Victor under the blanket, Chris on top of it.

For all his making fun of Victor about the Yuuri situation, Chris had gotten out of bed and come over to his IMMEDIATELY when he’d told his friend what happened – with a bottle of wine.

“None. I... he just told me he liked me. Before I left.”

“Was it... Because you left?”

“No, I don’t think so. I even left a note.”

“Right... Is he just out of it because of the fever?”

Victor silently handed him the phone.

“Hm, doesn’t seem like it. And you say he was getting better anyway?”

“Much.” Victor confirmed, sniffling into his pillow.

“Then what could have happened?”

He shrugged, reaching down to pet Makka, who was curled up by his hip. He had no answer for Chris – as his friend seemed to realise.

“Are you... are you giving up?” His friend asked cautiously after a few moments of silence.

“What choice do I have?” he lamented.

After a long pause, Chris sighed. “I can’t believe I’m actually about to say this, but after you’ve come THIS far, you’re just giving up? What happened to your determination?”

Victor looked up at his friend with huge eyes. “I thought you thought I was being stupid?”

“Oh, extremely so, but I’ve never known you to quit halfway through. Besides, if what you said is true, then the issue clearly isn’t that he doesn’t _want_ you.”

Victor slowly sat up. “I... You think I should try again. That I should... win him back?”

Chris nodded slowly. “Yes. Though maybe this would be a good opportunity to do away with the whole hooker stuff.”

Victor hummed quietly. He’d been far too hurt and miserable to consider his situation as any sort of opportunity, but he could kind of see Chris’ point.

If he squinted in bad lighting.

“How?”

“Hm, I don’t know. It’s your messed-up relationship.” Chris said with a grin.

He glowered at the other man.

“Clearly you have _some_ idea. Spill it, Giacometti.”

“Bossy! Alright, alright, I may have _some_ ideas. But first, you’re opening another bottle of wine for me.” Chris declared.

* * *

Victor was nearly sweating through his suit. He’d just checked into the hotel in New York, and had immediately beeline to the elevator to meet Chris in his room.

They’d both taken an earlier flight – at his expense, first-class of course – in order to... prepare.

He still wasn’t fully on board with Chris’ ideas, but as he’d not had a better one... Out of habit, he checked his phone – but Yuuri hadn’t texted again since his last message, nor had he called. It had been almost five days now.

Chris was already waiting and closed the door behind him.

“Run into anyone from the company?”

“No. They should all be landing soon though, right?”

Chris nodded. “Yup. I planned it out pretty well, especially given how short notice it was.”

He grinned at his friend – Chris really HAD done everything in his power.

“You’re checked in?”

“Mhm. Junior suite.”

“Best I could do on the company account.”

“It’s fine. Besides, given that most people are sharing a room anyway, you can probably explain the expense away to accounting.”

Chris snickered. “If this goes well, I hope that YOU can use your contacts in accounting to do that!”

Victor snorted and grabbed a bottle of water out of the minibar.

“And until then...”

“How do you want to play this?” Chris asked.

He sighed. “I don’t know. I was hoping at some point I would come up with some kind of foolproof plan.”

“So, you were just going to wing it?”

He shrugged and drank from his bottle.

“I figured I would meet him in the room. Because... Well, I don’t exactly want that conversation to be public.”

“Oh, you mean the one where you tell him that you’ve been paying him and pretending you’re a hooker? I can’t imagine why you don’t want to do that in front of the board.”

He gave Chris an unamused look.

“So, I could just... wait in the room? I guess.”

Chris nodded. “You could. Yet you’re not, you’re here. In my room. The room I specifically booked to have to myself.”

Victor scoffed. “You just did that in case you met someone while you’re here.”

“No.” Chris corrected him. “I did that for when I meet multiple someone’s during our time here. It’s New York, I’m single...” The other man shrugged.

Victor fought the urge to roll his eyes.

“Well, I don’t see anyone lining up right now so I think I’m good to stay here for now.”

Chris smiled weakly. “I guess, but I think you should go to your room anyway. You don’t know when he’ll get here, and you don’t want to miss it.”

“You’re just trying to kick me out, aren’t you?”

His colleague winked. “Actually, I’m about to head down to reception before the first people arrive. I’ll give you a heads up if I see lover-boy.”

Sighing I defeat, Victor agreed – he headed up to his suite. It was nice – big, spacious, and with two separate king-sized beds, so that if necessary, they could keep their distance during the stay.

Not that he hoped it would be necessary, but...

His fingers clenched harder on the bottle.

He hadn’t been that nervous since he’d been first promoted to C-exec and had to speak in front of the board.

Actually, he realised, even that had been a walk in the park compared to the feeling of waiting for Yuuri now.

* * *

He was laying on one of the beds when his phone buzzed – Chris.

‘DON’T MAKE A SOUND!!!!! Put tt on speakrr’ his friend had texted – and seconds later, it rang.

He picked up, and although he was confused as hell, he muted himself and put Chris on speaker.

Except... except what he heard _wasn’t_ Chris.

It was Yuuri.

He gasped in shock.

“-n’t know why I’d be in a _suite_!” the man gasped.

“Who knows, the room assignments are probably random.” An unknown voice replied.

“Phichit! I’m with someone really high in the company! What if... What if I embarrass myself?” Yuuri hissed.

Victor smiled fondly – of all the things that might happen, THAT was the least of their potential issues.

“You won’t. This Nikiforov guy is probably just some old geezer that’ll get drunk and pass out.” This Phichit-guy said.

Victor scoffed. He was NOT old.

“Yeah, but! What if I...” Something rustled and Yuuri’s voice broke off.

“Stop that. You’ll be fine. Hey, maybe he’s really young and hot and you two hit it off!” Phichit teased.

“Phichit!!” Yuuri hissed, and the other man laughed – it sounded like he was walking away.

“S-So, Chris, the room assignments are fixed?” Yuuri asked, apparently turning to the man in question.

“Yup, sorry. Someone from another branch made the list. I think they’re all mixed up to promote inter-department relations or something.”

“O-Oh. I guess that makes sense.” Yuuri said in a small voice. “And... And the man I’m rooming with, is he nice? Do you know him?”

More rustling sounded. “I do know him, cheri, and let me tell you, you and him are going to get on _amazingly_. You should head up now, I’m pretty sure he’s already in the room.”

There was some more rustling, the sound of a suitcase being dragged... And then just Chris.

“You hear that? Showtime!”

He hastily took himself off mute.

He. Wasn’t. Ready.

“Thank s for the heads up.” He said quietly, hanging up and putting the phone into his pocket.

Not for the first time, he straightened out his best suit, checked his hair and reapplied his lip balm.

He’d already looked around for the most advantageous spot to sit in and ultimately decided on the edge of the bed. His heart was racing, his palms were sweatier than they’d ever been... And then the door opened, and an achingly familiar voice called out a shy “Excuse me!”

Victor held his breath.


	10. Chapter 10

Indeed, Yuuri stepped inside, closed the door behind himself, and wandered deeper into the suite. He hadn’t spotted Victor immediately, and was clearly far too busy looking around the room to do so, but then... After a few moments that seemed like an eternity, Yuuri’s chocolate eyes met his own across the room.

He vaguely heard Yuuri’s suitcase thump to the ground when he let go of it, but he didn’t care – he stood, silently, and stepped closer to the man he loved.

“Hi, Yuuri.” He greeted, his voice quiet.

His words seemed to startle Yuuri out of his stupor because he all but scrambled a few steps away.

“V-Victor? That... You?! Why are you here?!” he cried out, his voice high-pitched and panicky.

Any other moment, Victor found it amusing. “I’m...” he began, only to pause when Yuuri’s expression closed off suddenly.

“Are you here... accompanying the CIO I’m supposed to stay with?”

He gaped at the other man for a second.

“Am I... Am I what?”

“Y-You... I know I ended the contract – I just...” he broke off again, an unreadable expression crossing his features. “I need to go.” The accountant blurted out before dashing off.

Victor overcame his own stupor a second later and raced after him – down the hallway and into the staircase of all things.

Yuuri was springing down the stairs – apparently, he was also considerably more fit than Victor, because he struggled to keep up.

He followed the other man out into the lobby again, where he no doubt drew a fair bit of attention – his moment came when Yuuri turned the wrong way and ended up in a dead-end seating area instead of at the exit he’d no doubt been heading towards.

Breathing heavily, Victor stood in the middle of the walkway, once again staring into those lovely brown eyes.

Yuuri made a whining noise low in his throat.

“W-What’s going on?” he asked, still obviously panicked.

Victor gulped.

“I-If you come back to the room, I’d be happy to explain!” he forced himself to say in his most soothing tone.

Before Yuuri could reply, someone else chimed in. “Victor?” He turned towards the voice – it was the manager of a field office they had in Korea. Song, Seung-something. “Victor Nikiforov! It’s been a while, how are you?”

Victor’s eyes snapped back to Yuuri, but the other man had already run off again.

Fuck.

* * *

Dodging familiar faces and getting back to his room wasn’t easy – nor was ignoring the many texts featuring question marks from Chris.

He skipped the meet and greet dinner – according to Chris, Yuuri didn’t show, so there was no point in going – and instead paced around the room, waiting for Yuuri to come back.

He had no choice – all his stuff was in the room. Victor had only snooped a _little_ – Yuuri’s phone and passport were in the room. He seemed to have his wallet, but other than that...

He sighed, checking the time for perhaps the hundredth time since he’d come back to the room. He was worried – where in the world had Yuuri gone?!

Of course, exactly then, the door to the room _slammed_ open with a bang so hard it rattled the glass pitcher sitting on the bar just behind the door.

In stumbled Yuuri, visibly completely wasted. Victor ran over immediately, slightly grossed out when the heavy smell of alcohol hit him.

He grabbed Yuuri by the arm wordlessly and pulled him further into the room, towards the shower.

“You need a bath.” He declared – Yuuri let himself be manhandled into the bathroom, and even obediently started taking his clothes off at Victor’s order.

He stepped outside to give him some privacy, all the while listening for the sound sounds of Yuuri potentially slipping. The last thing he needed was for the other man to _hurt_ himself.

He needn’t have worried – some ten minutes later, a dripping wet but unharmed Yuuri stumbled out of the bathroom, a towel tied around his waist.

“You!” Yuuri began, vaguely actually focusing his attention on him.

Victor winced – he couldn’t tell what in the world was going through Yuuri’s drunk head at the moment.

“Come on, you need to lay down.” He instead urged, hoping whatever it was, Yuuri didn’t want to deck him.

It seemed not – the other man let himself be led to the bed, and even sat on the edge of it without protest.

“Am I... Am I going to be fired?” He asked, in a small, tired voice that nearly choked Victor up.

He hadn’t even _considered_ that as an issue – but of course, from Yuuri’s position, he could understand why that had to be terrifying. But that he would really think...

Victor gently put a hand on his shoulder and leaned closer, so they were face to face.

“No. I promise you. You won’t be fired. This, it has nothing to do with work.” He said in his most convincing tone.

Yuuri chuckled, his fingers reaching out to grab Victor’s tie. “Doesn’t it?”

He tried to lean back but found himself held in place by Yuuri’s grip on that tie – and unable to answer. There was something in Yuuri’s drunk gaze that seemed to silence him.

All he managed was a quiet whine – and then Yuuri pulled him closer, closer and closer until he could feel the other man’s breath on his lips.

Victor gasped quietly because a heartbeat later Yuuri really _did_ kiss him – and he was defenseless against it for a moment. Even the stinging taste of alcohol and the smell of stale beer didn’t immediately tear him from his stupor – only the realisation that Yuuri was drunk out of his mind, did.

He gently pulled back and freed himself from Yuuri’s grasp. He gently pushed him until he was stretched out on the bed... And just like that, he passed out in seconds.

Victor smiled bitterly as he went to his own bed – no doubt he wouldn’t get much sleep, but what choice did he have?

* * *

He woke up every time Yuuri moved in his sleep – even across the room, he could hear. He was too scared the other man would run off again to sleep properly, and sometime around 8am, he finally gave up on sleep and instead wandered over to the bar, grabbing his laptop on the way.

He decided he might as well get some work done – not that he got that far. As it turned out he was about as good at working as he was at sleeping in his state.

Even just clicking around on Pinterest didn’t really keep him occupied the way it normally did – and then, silent footsteps alerted him to the fact that Yuuri was up.

He turned just in time to see the bathroom door slam shut, followed by what sounded like rather pitiful retching sounds.

Sighing, he went and grabbed Yuuri a fresh bottle of water, before taking position next to the bathroom door.

It didn’t take long for Yuuri to come back out – he looked incredibly messed up, but he didn’t reject the water, just opened it and drank down some of it, followed by a sigh of relief.

“How are you feeling?” Victor asked quietly. Evidently, his voice broke whatever Yuuri had thought up to stay calm – he practically scampered a few feet away, holding the bottle in front of himself.

They stared at each other silently for a minute, before Yuuri gulped. “I... have a hangover.” He said.

Victor resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

“I can tell. Do you need anything? Medicine? Food?”

“Is a plane ticket home too much to ask?” Yuuri blurted out.

Victor smiled weakly. “Not until we’ve actually talked. Properly.” He tried to sound stern, but really, his voice came out more desperate than anything else.

Yuuri looked at him with huge eyes, but gave a tiny nod.

“Y-You’re Victor Nikiforov.” The Japanese man said. “The... CIO of the company I work for.”

“That’s right.” He confirmed – Yuuri looked as if he still didn’t really believe it until he heard his confirmation.

“A-And you... moonlight as an escort?”

Victor hid his smile behind his hand. “No... No I am not and have never been an escort. That was, uh, a misunderstanding.”

Yuuri’s expression changed to one of panic, mixed with a bit of confusion.

“But you...”

Victor cleared his throat. “Why don’t I tell you my side of what happened?”

Yuuri nodded cautiously.

“Well, I was stood up by some blind date I was on, and was just on my way home when suddenly, this incredibly cute guy clumsily hits on me.” He began – Yuuri whined, high in his throat, but Victor didn’t stop – not when Yuuri was FINALLY listening properly.

“He invites me to dinner and then his hotel, and he fucks me better than I’ve ever had it.” He noted with pleasure the way Yuuri blushed with another whimper. “The next morning, I wake up and give him my number and then find _money_ on my dresser. So, I'm determined to meet this cute man again to clear up the misunderstanding.”

He paused for a second, giving Yuuri time to... well, realign _his_ experiences with Victor’s own.

“Except instead, we land in a bed again, and frankly, I’m pretty useless for conversation, he’s that good. So, it happens again. It keeps happening, actually, until I overhear him say something when he thinks I’m asleep – namely that he’s not interested in a normal relationship.”

Yuuri shook his head, his mouth working as if trying to say something and not finding the right words. Victor didn’t care – he wasn’t done.

“So, I decide to convince him of the _merits_ of dating me without clearing up the misunderstanding. It works as well, he openly tells me he likes me... but rejects me when I suggest a normal relationship.” He gave Yuuri a withering look that had the other man shrinking back a step.

“Then, as if that weren’t enough, he offers me _half his yearly salary_ in order to make us exclusive. I’m over the moon – obviously he DOES like me in some way... Except that, when I look after him when he’s sick, he suddenly _dumps me and won’t even tell me why._ ”

Victor menacingly approached Yuuri with his last few words, backing him into the bar until he could no longer walk further back.

Victor waited for Yuuri to get his ducks in a row mentally – when, after several minutes of silence, he finally spoke, Victor could have hit him, though.

“Y-You know how much I earn?”

Suppressing the urge, Victor took a deep breath. “Yes. I know how much you earn. I know where you live. Who your emergency contacts are. You know Chris, the guy whose audit you’re doing?”

Yuuri nodded slowly. “That’s my best friend. He’s been helping me out with... you.” Victor wasn’t quite ready to tell Yuuri what he’d had help with – that seemed quite stalkerish, all of a sudden.

Not that it wasn’t, he just didn’t want to say it out loud.

“Y-You’re the _CIO._ Why didn’t you... report me to HR. Or-or to the police?”

Victor sighed. “Well, at first I had no idea you worked for my company. I don’t have anything to do with accounting. Then... I mean, weren’t you listening? I didn’t report you because I _wanted_ to be with you.”

Yuuri whined again. “That? You don’t have to keep saying that. I appreciate it, but there’s no need. I... will I be fired?”

“As I told you last night, _no_!” Victor hotly insisted, his fingers clenching into fists.

“Right. Look. I... I need to go. I need to not be here. I’m very sorry for the misunderstanding, but I _need to go home._ ” Yuuri blurted before dashing past Victor and to his suitcase. He threw on clothes and then packed his few belongings up.

“Yuuri!” Victor insisted, only to watch the other man flinch quite badly.

“Look, Mr. Nikiforov, Victor, I’m really sorry, okay. Just, all of this, I can’t... Are-Aren’t you really wealthy?” Yuuri suddenly asked.

Victor shrugged. “Pretty sure I’m a millionaire but you’d have to ask my bank. What does THAT have to do with anything?”

Yuuri just shook his head. “It, I – everything. I don’t know what you expect from me, but whatever it is, I can’t give it to you. I’m just... You’ve seen the place I live in. I have nothing you could want.”

Victor’s heart broke a bit at his words – Yuuri seemed to mean every single one of them.

“I don’t want money or a place to live.” He said quietly, unsure if Yuuri could even hear him. It seemed so – he paused, having just finished packing.

“Then what do you want?” Yuuri asked, without looking at him directly.

Victor grinned weakly. “The adorable man who asked me out to dinner and then took me apart in his hotel room. I... I just want you, Yuuri.” He cautiously stepped closer, relieved when for once, Yuuri neither ran nor panicked.

Instead, he allowed Victor to turn him around, and held still when he gently cupped Yuuri’s face with both hands and leaned into him.

He barely hesitated before kissing the other man – he tried to put everything he felt into the kiss, hoping to get his feelings across better than he’d done with words.

For a few seconds, Yuuri did nothing, then he hesitantly kissed back, one of his hands sneaking to Victor’s back and holding him in place.

Victor moaned in relief, arousal, and sheer happiness – and just like that, the spell was broken. Yuuri’s hand retreated and a moment later, he pulled away completely. In fact, he backed a few steps away, his expression unreadable.

“I-I’m sorry, Victor.” He said one final time, before spinning around and hurrying out of their shared suite.

Victor watched as the door fell closed behind him, his heart shattering into a million pieces.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Continued in part 2!


End file.
